Astronomers have observed an eruption from a baby star in the Orion
Constellation that appears to be a stellar growth spurt. Such an
outburst has never been observed from a younger star. The eruption was
first noticed by astronomers at the University of Toledo, and the
resulting paper was published in the.February issue of The Astrophysical
Journal
The star, HOPS 383, is what’s known as a “Class 0″ protostar, and
located about 1,400 light years (8.2 quadrillion miles) from Earth in
the nebula NGC 1977. Class 0 is the earliest stage of star development,
occurring when a cloud of gas and dust begins to condense into a hot
center surrounded by a disk.
This stage lasts about 150,000 years, a blink of an eye in a
star’s lifetime. Later, the center of the star will grow hotter and more
massive, and the surrounding cloud may form planets, asteroids, or
comets.
Because of the mass of dust that surrounds a Class 0 protostar, these
early-stage stars do not shine light visible to the human eye. However,
the heat at the protostar’s center can be detected by instruments. These
instruments, such as NASA’s Spritzer Space Telescope, detected a 3500%
increase in brightness in HOPS 383 in the past several years. Scientists
believe that the outburst is due to rapid increase in growth of the
center of the protostar, which leads to an increase in the amount of
heat radiated outwards.
Via NASA, here’s an image that shows the stellar eruption as captured by various space telescopes over the past several years.